Influence of fast switching semiconductors on the winding insulation system of electrical machines

Abstract

Variable speed and low voltage electrical drives are commonly operated by frequency converters. According to recent developments [1–2], there is a trend in the area of semi-conductors, that switching frequency and voltage slew rate will increase significantly. The aim of these semiconductors is to reduce the switching losses and to increase the switching frequency, which enables to reduce the size of passive components in the power-electric circuit. This results in less material effort and lower cost, for the power electronic component. However, electric motors operated by large slew rate inverters show particular problems in the winding insulation, which have to be analyzed. Such problems are well known for high voltage machines. Due to the increasing slew rate, this problematic occurs in low voltage machines now as well. Here, the influence of fast switching semiconductors on the winding insulation system is studied, using accelerated ageing tests with fast switching high-voltage generators.